[Verse 1] Empires rise on borrowed light Credit lines that stretch the night Paper promises, easy gold Stories bought and quietly sold When money’s cheap, we build it tall Walls of glass that start to fall What feels strong begins to bend At the place where cycles end [Pre-Chorus] You can feel it in the strain In the markets, in the pain When the numbers lose their truth And the old outgrows its youth [Chorus] It’s the long cycle turning again From the calm to the edge of the wind When the debts get too heavy to hold And the fire burns through what we sold Power shifts, and the lines redraw From the quiet cracks in the law What was certain begins to unwind When the wheel turns the fate of its time [Verse 2] Reserve of trust, the world’s belief Backed by strength, not just relief Trade routes flow, the system hums Till the imbalance slowly comes We print to ease what we can’t pay Push the burden down the way Till the gap is hard to hide Between the weak and those who guide [Pre-Chorus] And the tension fills the air Between the ones with less to spare And the ones who shape the game Trying hard to keep the same [Chorus] It’s the long cycle turning again From the calm to the edge of the wind When the debts get too heavy to hold And the fire burns through what we sold Power shifts, and the lines redraw From the quiet cracks in the law What was certain begins to unwind When the wheel turns the fate of its time [Bridge] Strength is built in years of pain Lost when comfort takes the reins Discipline becomes a ghost Right before it’s needed most And the world begins to split Not from chance—but bit by bit Internal strain and rising force Start to pull the system off its course [Breakdown – soft, reflective] Debt… Power… Trust… Time… [Final Chorus – expanded] It’s the long cycle turning again Through the rise and the fall of all men From the wealth to the weight of the cost And the lines between gain and loss New hands rise as the old let go That’s the rhythm we come to know Every peak holds the seeds of decline Every fall plants the next design [Outro] So don’t just chase what’s shining now Or build your faith on fragile ground The ones who see the turning tide… Don’t fight the wheel— They learn to ride.
